I wish Mags hadn't killed herself. As soon as they did the slow peak at the mason jar glasses, the door was opened to one of them to be poisoned. I loved her the character. Also, with most of the Bennetts dead, I wonder what manner of hijinks will be front and center next season. I'd guess Boyd will be a main criminal interest, with Raylan owing him a rather substantial debt for being saved from Dickey's batting practice.

Non-sub here. Season one was all about, I'm Raylan Givens, bad-ass Marshal! Season two is all about, I'm Raylan Givens, flawed human being. Instead of building up to the cliche Super Cop who's held back by the system that won't support him, they seem to be saying Raylan needs the Marshal Service as much as the Service needs him. Seems appropriate that Raylan would need the help of the Marshal Service and Boyd to survive the finale, seeing as how he's been a fuck-up most of this season.

Question is, will they do the cliche thing and have him breaking up with Winona in Season three.Banzai51

I suspect that Season 3 will be about the Dixie Mafia out of Lexington coming into fill the power void with Mag's death. That will leave Boyd's operation has a preferable option. Eva will certainly live.

The question is if we will see the cliche Raylan goes to GlenCO (sp?) or an ep or two before returning.

Bleh. I can't read this thread because I'm watching it on Hulu and a month behind the action BUT if you enjoy Justified, you should watch Winter's Bone. So much of it reminded me of the Harlan County we see behind the scenes. And the main actress does a wonderful job, effectively conveying multiple emotions (which is more than I can say about Portman's Black Swan performance, what a terrible overrated mess).

Bleh. I can't read this thread because I'm watching it on Hulu and a month behind the action BUT if you enjoy Justified, you should watch Winter's Bone. So much of it reminded me of the Harlan County we see behind the scenes. And the main actress does a wonderful job, effectively conveying multiple emotions (which is more than I can say about Portman's Black Swan performance, what a terrible overrated mess).

Did this show get any better? I watched the first 3 episodes and it never grabbed me. Should I give it another shot?

No we started a thread about a show going into it's 3rd season because it sucks and we hate it.

Touche'

I'm not saying you hated it, but there have been series out there that started off slow/not really engaging and then got REALLY good (Dollhouse being I think the most extreme example of that). I never disliked Justified, it just failed to grab me in the beginning. But if it picked up a little later and got really good I would go invest in some DVD's. That's all I'm asking.

I'm not saying you hated it, but there have been series out there that started off slow/not really engaging and then got REALLY good (Dollhouse being I think the most extreme example of that). I never disliked Justified, it just failed to grab me in the beginning. But if it picked up a little later and got really good I would go invest in some DVD's. That's all I'm asking.

As noted above I liked it "right away" so I don't recall it being slow. I was gripped from the first scene where he shoots the gangster who tries to draw down on him in the restaurant. I also liked the main characters right away. The support characters are also amazing and fully fleshed out (Ava, Arlo, Boyd, his boss, his various partners, even his enemies are very human).

I'm going to check out the books and see how close they are to the show.

Like I said before, Season 1 is all "Raylan Givens, bad ass Marshal" and season two is "Raylan Givens, flawed human being." Hit them up on hulu or netflix to see if you dig it more. I liked season two a bit better because they turned away from the cliche bad ass lawman routine and humanized both Raylan and the Boyd Crowder character. Hell, Raylan started getting his ass kicked on a regular basis in season 2. So if it was the arrogant, cooler-than-thou lawman routine that was turning you off, you'll probably enjoy it as it goes on.

Watched the S3 premiere last night. I'm really glad to have this show back. It's no Sons of Anarchy, but it's pretty damned good in its own right.

The premiere was a nice take on the very classic western theme of "the big bad gunfighter has lost his mojo, just when a new big bad gunfighter has come to town".

Some of the best stuff though--as with S2--was the interaction between Raylan and Boyd. Boyd is a great character, and I think it's pretty clear that he started the fight with Raylan intentionally so he could get inside and get another shot at killing Dickie Bennett.

Oh, and at the beginning of the episode when Winona was getting pulled over, did anyone else think there was some element of the Bennett clan still in play, and the deputy was someone still loyal to Doyle? I'm kind of glad they didn't do that, because while the Bennett-vs-Givens feud storyline was great (and Mags was an awesome antagonist), I think they played it out thoroughly and well in S2. All that's left is for Boyd to bide his time inside until he can get to Dickie.

Ava was pretty awesome. I saw her girlfriend-turned-crimeboss shift coming early in the episode, and I half expected her to actually kill Dewey. The skillet to the face was pretty great, though

I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. The preview didn't give us much in terms of content (which is good), but it certainly seems like they have a lot going on this season.

The whole shiv thing also didn't make any sense....they set us up to believe he wanted to just kill the guy who shot Ava, but in reality he wanted to know where the money was...but if he had attempted to do so in the lunch room it wouldn't have given the much time to converse, so that's a pretty major hole It's clear since Ava asked him about the money that his goal the entire time was to question him and not kill him.

The whole shiv thing also didn't make any sense....they set us up to believe he wanted to just kill the guy who shot Ava, but in reality he wanted to know where the money was...but if he had attempted to do so in the lunch room it wouldn't have given the much time to converse, so that's a pretty major hole It's clear since Ava asked him about the money that his goal the entire time was to question him and not kill him.

Unless the goal was to injure him so they could end up in the hospital ward alone.

The bigger question is if Raylan figured out the plan and was trying to get him out so he would stay away from Dicky.

The bigger question is if Raylan figured out the plan and was trying to get him out so he would stay away from Dicky.

Based on the fight that instigated Boyd getting back into prison, I'd say that's exactly it. Raylan had an epiphany in the scene before he went to the prison to talk to Boyd (where his ex-wife said something to him and he did a bit of a double-take [verbally]). Next scene he's talking to Raylan and getting him released...

The bigger question is if Raylan figured out the plan and was trying to get him out so he would stay away from Dicky.

Pretty sure he did which is why he was getting Boyd released and it was likely him that got Dickie moved into solitary. I also think Raylan's visit to Boyd to let him know he was getting out was basically Raylan saying "I figured out your plan and am going to stop you" without saying it. Now I'm not sure if Raylan realizes that the reason Boyd wanted to get to Dickie was not to kill him for shooting Ava but to find the location of the money.

Yep. After the realtor had been through her house, he cracks a joke about not having to worry about her sleeping with the realtor because she's too old for her. She says something about being done with realtors (her most recent ex was the scummy realtor that owed money to the Dixie Mafia), and that "the only thing she could believe was whatever he wasn't saying."

That caused him to have a moment where he probably thought "Wait...what wasn't Boyd saying", and he figured out that Boyd wanted to go back to prison. So he goes and tells Boyd that he'll amend his statement so Boyd can get out, and Boyd enacts his plan to get to Dickie and finds out that he can't kill him yet (or he won't find Mags' missing cash).

I don't know if he figured out the whole thing, though (that Boyd wants to get to Dickie for Mags' money, not just for revenge).

The scene with the butcher and his henchmen was creepy. The lye-on-the-hand thing always skeeves me out.

Loved that episode. I like to see people from HBO series in other things (the pawn shop owner was in Deadwood and his flunky was in Generation Kill).

And yeah, I'm rooting for new-and-improved Crowder Crime Syndicate. I've always loved the Boyd character as a sometimes-antagonist for Raylan and a sometimes-antihero in his own story. His conversation with Devil about not being able to discard the man he was any more than he could discard his tattoos? That was brilliant.

And I'm loving Neal McDonough as the new big baddy. His entire demeanor when Raylan goes to talk to Wynn was awesome.

"How's it going to feel when those bullets are coming back at you?" (paraphrasing)

And then smiling for the picture? I nearly peed myself. It's cool to have a villain who's clearly not impressed by Raylan's folksy-yet-deadly badass-ness.